The problem with Apple products is that they are too well-designed. What I mean is, they usually improve the technology we use to communicate and be entertained so much for the better that we have come to always expect more. Steve Jobs has trained us well with the “one more thing” mantra in his keynotes.
This is why we are so fanatical about our iDevices, why there a billion Apple news sites – we like to think MacTrast is in the top of that heap – and why we are so frustrated by Apple’s delay with getting our stuff into the cloud. I believe that, like everything else, Apple just wants to get it right – just like they sat back and watched everybody fall face first with an MP3 player strategy and then, boom – here comes the iPod a decade ago to change digital music forever.
Into the clouds
It all seems to be coming together now and changing again: a delayed iPhone 5 to improve Wi-Fi for over the air syncing, the recent hire of a carbon fiber bike designer to improve wireless connectivity, a massive data center in North Carolina (perhaps more locations) for cloud-based iTunes and MobileMe (just buy DropBox, Apple) and the imminent release of iOS 5 at WWDC in June. Imagine a world where you don’t have to connect to iTunes to sync your iDevice, a world where you don’t need to sync your new iPad just to use it the first time – huge deal breakers for mainstream users. A cloud strategy is Apple’s biggest opportunity to make a computer for normal people.
Prescription
Apple, here’s what you need to do. You killed my favorite online music service LaLa a year ago, apparently for the brain trust. Bring this back in a big way so I don’t have to worry about managing my massive library on clunky external drives. You need to fix the beast that is known as iTunes – people tell me it’s worse on Windows, God help those poor users. Change the name, it’s not about ‘tunes’ anymore. At the very least, for Mac users, integrate the syncing features and file management into the OS. Lion team, are you listening? Finally, make it all just work like the kitchen tap. I shouldn’t have to manually update my podcasts on the iPhone, they should update automatically like my twitter feed. I shouldn’t have to connect to my computer to get OS updates or transfer purchases back to it. And I certainly shouldn’t have to make my granny plug in her iPad when she first buys it or needs a security patch. With the iPad you announced the post-PC era. It’s time to walk the walk.
Apple, I hope you show us at June’s WWDC how you will finally make the post-PC, wireless world a reality.
